Can Rand Paul stand for big military without losing libertarians? — WASHINGTON — With an aircraft carrier as his backdrop, Rand Paul will seek Thursday to reassure hawkish Republican voters and donors during his presidential campaign roll-out week that he isn't the same politician who called for cutting defense spending in 2011.

So many candidates, so little love — A seemingly interminable flight, blessed with a well-stocked video-on-demand system, afforded me the opportunity to watch Woody Allen's classic “Annie Hall” again after a hiatus of many years. — At one point, the star tells a joke about two elderly women …

White House mocks Netanyahu on Twitter — The White House on Wednesday took a shot at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by using a cartoon bomb to defend its nuclear deal with Iran. — The bomb diagram attached to a White House tweet looked a lot like a chart used by Netanyahu during …

U-M reverses course, will show ‘American Sniper’ — After a day filled with intense controversy, the University of Michigan reversed course late Wednesday night and decided to show the movie “American Sniper” at its originally scheduled time and place. — “It was a mistake to cancel …

A killing on camera — Protesters gathered outside city hall in North Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday. — The Rev. Calvin Butts this week threatened to withhold his electoral support from Mayor de Blasio. He demands the mayor order Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to fully abandon …

‘America is the real terrorist and my boys are the best’: Boston Marathon bombers' defiant mother rails against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's guilty verdict in bizarre rant as he faces death penalty — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was emotionless with his head bowed as the verdict was read out in U.S. District Court in Boston on Wednesday afternoon

Lee Surrendered, But His Lieutenants Kept Fighting — “If the programme which our people saw set on foot at Appomattox Court-House had been carried out ... we would have no disturbance in the South,” testified the former Confederate general (and future senator) John Brown Gordon in 1871.

10 questions for Ted Cruz — Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas grew famous nationally through his zealous attacks on President Obama's health law. Shortly after entering the 2016 Republican presidential race, Cruz sat down with me at Ninfa's, one of his favorite Tex-Mex restaurants in Houston.

Moroccan cash flows to Clinton Foundation — The Clinton Foundation is accepting a major donation from a Moroccan government-owned company to hold a high-profile conference next month in Marrakech with the king of Morocco — an event likely to reignite concerns about the foundation's acceptance …